


Terrors in the Night

by paleogay



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Clueless gays, Edelgard gets the comfort she deserves, F/F, PTSD, Post-Timeskip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 18:41:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20878886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paleogay/pseuds/paleogay
Summary: Years have passed since her torment, yet Edelgard still suffers from her terrible nightmares. Despite her best efforts to be quiet, she attracts an unexpected guest





	Terrors in the Night

**Author's Note:**

> Hello guys! I first want to give a list of things that could be triggering during the fic.
> 
> TW: Violence, death, mental illness
> 
> For Edeleth week, day 5: first kiss and insomnia (kinda) 
> 
> As someone who suffers from PTSD induced nightmares, I wanted to write about how truly traumatizing it can be. Based on how my gf has helped me with my nightmares when I an able to sleep with her. Don’t worry-this ends on a hopeful note!

Edelgard felt the cold, hard ground underneath her. As she tried to stand up, she felt the large chains around her, pulling her back down. 

“What’s wrong, Princess?” Edelgard jumped as the condescending voice came behind her. She turned, only to see a tall figure, although his face was oddly obscured. She felt like she knew him, but what was his name? Bushir? Bahir? Why couldn’t she remember? She was readily interrupted by his low laugh, followed by him forcing her up and out of the room.

“Your turn.” 

Suddenly all she could feel was fear. “No...no no no... not again!” 

Next thing she knew she was strapped down to a table, knives piercing her skin. The pain was unbearable. Between her flashes of pain she saw flashes of fractured memories. The night she was taken from her father, the days her and her siblings would huddle together, the eldest attempting to comfort all of them.

‘Where did he go?’ She felt herself wonder. Once again, there was a new scene playing out in front of her. Her brother, ,was lying in a pool of his own blood. He reached out towards Edelgard.

“El…” the word fell weakly from his lips. She tried to run to him, but the chains were too short. 

‘No...he can’t die. I must get to him’ , yet as hard as she pulled, he was just out of her reach. 

“El…please...help” She stood up and ran, but she wasn’t able to close any of the distance between them. Seeing her brother in such a state awoke something in her, and she yanked her chains with all of the strength she could. 

‘Yes’ she thought as she reached her brother. ‘I can save him’

She tried to ask what he needed, but he had fallen silent. “Brother?” she whimpered. She had been too late...he had died because she was too weak. Too weak to break her chains, too weak to resist their tormentors, too weak to save her brother. She felt warm tears running down her face and nestled her head into her brothers chest. 

“El…” she heard a weak voice call out. Could it be? She lifted her head in anticipation, only to see her brother staring back at her, his face filled with maggots, rats running over his body. 

“Why didn’t you save me?” He yelled, now lunging at her throat.

“I tried, no brother please….” She screamed into the darkness

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jolting from her bed in a sweat, Edelgard was short of breath. It took a couple moments to realize she was back at the monastery. No matter how many years passed, her nightmares remained strong as ever. She sat in her bed shaking, tears rolling down her cheeks. 

‘I have much more pressing things to worry about, I can’t waste my time with useless fears’. The last push into Fhirdihad was to begin in a couple days time. Yet still, these fears cling to her, eating away at her insides, leaving an empty shell. As she sat on her bed, trying to muffle any sobs with her pillow, she heard a knock on her door. 

“El?”

She froze. There was only one person who called her that anymore. After a moment of silence she heard a slightly louder knock. She didn’t want to be seen like this, especially not in front of her. 

“Coming!” She yelled desperately trying to wipe any remaining tears off her face as she walked. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she opened the door. 

“Professor”, she said, with a slight nod, “what brings you up here at this hour?” She was trying her best to keep her voice from shaking, a task she was only partially succeeding. 

“I’ve been having a hard time sleeping and decided to take a walk when I heard you scream.” Her ever stoic teacher responded. There was a slight tone of concern in her voice, but you would only notice if you took the time to understand her. Edelgard was usually a quick thinker, but with the way Byleth was looking at her, she couldn’t seem to form a coherent thought. 

“Ah yes...there was a large...beetle and I…” Edelgard started but was spared trying to continue her explanation by her professor cutting her off, her eyes deadly serious. 

“Edelgard, are you having your nightmares?” Gods, how could she read her like such an open book! It’s as if her eyes could see through her facade. Edelgard turned away from her teacher, hoping that this would keep her from seeing into the depths of her fear. She had told the professor about her struggle with nightmares years ago at the academy, but to think she had remembered that all these years…. 

‘Gods she must think I’m weak, how am I fit to rule a nation if I can’t contain my own emotions?’ Edelgard was suddenly snapped from her thoughts when she felt Byleth gently grab her chin and turn her head. Although Edelgard had gotten quite good at reading the professor’s expressions, even she was having a hard time reading the look on Byleth’s face. It was like a mixture of uncertainty, and confusion, but mostly concern. Her teacher stepped into the room and shut the door behind her.

“El,” she softly continued, “you can tell me anything.” Slowly the professor’s hand moved to gently caress her cheek. Normally her movements were so...confident, but she seemed almost afraid while doing this. No one had ever treated her like this before. Not since her siblings….

With that though came the flash of the horror that had been in her nightmare. She couldn’t hold it in anymore. Tears slowly fell from her face as she looked at Byleth. 

“I’m sorry, my teacher” 

“For what?” The uncertainty in Byleth’s face went away, replaced only with sympathy. 

“Not being strong enough” As she said those words, Edelgard collapsed into a ball on the floor, finally letting out the years of torment she had kept inside. 

“El….you’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met.” She knelt next to her former student putting her hand on her shoulder. This stopped Edelgard, as she turned to the older woman, body still wracking with sobs. 

“You say that, as you are watching me fall apart in front of you.” She said, sarcastically. There was a moment of silence, almost as if Byleth was rehearsing in her head the words she would say next. 

“After all you’ve been through, you still see that there’s something to fight for. You were tortured, abused, lied to, yet you came out against them, at all odds. You haven’t let your trauma consume you, making you someone you aren’t. If that isn’t strength, then I don’t know what is.” Edelgard’s sobbing stopped. She had never recieved a compliment like this before. Sure, she was praised for her battle prowess and tactical knowledge, but this, this was something no one even knew about, much less comfort her. Without even thinking, she wrapped her arms around Byleth. She seemed to tense up at first, but after a moment returned the hug. They stayed like that awhile, before Edelgard broke away.

“Thank you, Professor.” 

“There’s no need for formalities anymore, you can just call my Byleth.” For a second Edelgard wondered if she told any of the other black eagles to call her by her name. She hadn’t noticed it at least, or maybe she just wanted to think her professor felt something special for her. 

“Alright, then. Thank you Byleth. No one has ever been able to understand me like you have. I doubt anyone else ever will.” Her teacher seemed to blush at the comment. 

“Well...that’s what you do...when” her voice trailed off. Edelgard was shocked, could she be jumping to conclusions or was the professor about to say she had feelings for her?

“When what, my-Byleth?” She said, not quite used to being on first name basis with her former teacher. 

“Well,” it was Byleth’s turn to look away now “that’s just what happens when you’re in love.” 

A wave of heat ran through Edelgard. Did she hear this right? Was she in another dream? No she couldn’t be. She was right here, next to Byleth, and she had just confessed her love. 

“Byleth, I-“ before she even realized what was happening, she pulled Byleth in for a kiss. They both seemed taken aback, but quickly they returned the kisses from the other. 

When they finally broke the kiss, they leaned on each other’s foreheads. Each of them taking deep breaths. 

Can this be real? Edelgard thought. She heard Byleth laugh. Had she said that out loud!?

“Don’t worry, I’m here for real.” She said, tucking some loose hair behind Edelgards ear. 

“Would it help your nightmares if I were to stay with you tonight?” Her professor asked. As much as Edelgard knew they shouldn’t, she couldn’t help herself. She nodded. 

With that they climbed into bed. Byleth pulled Edelgard’s head into her chest and hugged her tight. Occasionally her dreams would start to creep up on her, but she would feel the warm touch of Byleth, waking her up and reassuring her that she was not alone. Soon Edelgard was able to fall asleep, curled up in her lovers arms. As she drifted, she thought how, at long last, she finally felt as though she had someone who loved her. Maybe she wasn’t so weak after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked this fic, it’s my first one I’ve done for a while, so if you have any comments please let me know, I would love to hear them! Thanks so much for reading!


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